


Every Year

by SoloShikigami



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Brotherly Love, Child Abandonment, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Parent Death, Parent W. D. Gaster, Underswap Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Sans (Undertale), underswap - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23822002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoloShikigami/pseuds/SoloShikigami
Summary: It's easy to lose track of time in the Underground, the only way to do it is to keep up a routine. Sans usually has to help Papyrus with this, but he notices that every year on a particular day, he goes out without telling Sans where he's going. This year he follows him and learns some truth about their past.
Kudos: 19





	Every Year

**Author's Note:**

> For Annaisu as a prize for a Valentine's Day Raffle! Originally posted March 2018!

It was quite easy to lose track of time in the Underground. There wasn’t much of a change between night and day other than how active the towns were. The only way one could experience a change in weather was to travel to another section.

Routine was what kept time. It was why Sans insisted on his bedtime story, it was why he had his chores, it was why Papyrus took so many breaks, it honestly was why they did anything at all.

However, Sans suspected his brother kept very good track of time, because there was only one time where he seemed to break routine.

“Where are you going, Papyrus?” Sans asked.

“My Hotland hot dog stand,” Papyrus said with a grin. “I better hurry before I miss my break.”

Without another word, Papyrus was out the door.

Sans sighed; Papyrus normally didn’t have Hotland Hot Dog Stand duties on the same days Sans had training with Alphys before lunch.

He finished scrubbing the pan in the sink before putting on the rest of his gear and heading out the door. Even though Sans didn’t take long, there was no sign of Papyrus, neither the outline of the tall skeleton nor any tracks in the snow.

“More space and time shenanigans,” Sans sighed, heading for the Riverperson.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Sans wasn’t surprised at all when he made it to Hotland and Papyrus wasn’t at his hot dog stand.

“Hello, have you seen my brother?” Sans asked a nearby Vulkin, who seemed to have a hot dog bun burning in its lava.

“Who is your brother?!” it asked in a high-pitched voice.

“Tall, skeleton, there are only two skeleton monsters as far as I know in the entire Underground,” Sans said.

“Ah! Yes! Hot Dog Skele! He went that way!”

Vulkin did not have any arms and therefore was not pointing.

“I’m sorry, which way?” Sans asked.

“That way to The Core, silly!” Vulkin giggled.

“Ah, I see. Thank you very much!”

“Does my best!”

Sans grinned at the happy little monster and he turned towards The Core. His grin faded immediately; he always disliked that monstrosity, but his brother was much more important.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Sans was a little surprised to see Papyrus all by himself, staring at The Core as he leaned against the railing, lava roiling below. He was taking long drags of his cigarette, and Sans could tell that he was deep in thought.

“I thought I told you to quit those terrible things,” Sans said as he approached.

Papyrus jumped, cigarette dropping from his mouth.

“SANS!” he then cleared his throat. “Oh, uh, hey, bro, what in the world are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing. This isn’t where you normally are. There was a time you did this, a pretty long time ago, and I know you did it another time, too.”

Papyrus nodded.

“Well, why? Why do you not tell me why you come here? Why are you so secretive? And why- Papyrus, were you crying?!”

Papyrus’ eyes went wide as he wiped his face. As Sans got closer, he could see pale streaks of orange down his brother’s face. But also, mentioning it seemed to snap something inside of his brother, for more tears quickly welled in his sockets.

“Papy,” Sans murmured, taking one of his slender hands in his own. “Please tell me what this is all about? Please don’t keep secrets from me.”

Papyrus looked down at him, a myriad of emotions flashed through his eyes before he finally seemed to break, dropping to his knees, his long arms draping over Sans’ shoulders as he pressed his head into his chest and sobbed.

Sans froze in shock, never once before could he remember his brother ever showing any sort of extreme emotion on one end of the spectrum or the other, much less had he even seen him cry. He lifted shaking hands to embrace his brother as all sorts of thoughts ran though his mind.

Whatever had Papyrus so upset must be something utterly horrific; Sans was beginning to get scared himself. This was Papyrus, his big brother, the one who was always there to protect him and assure him that everything was going to be all right. But things apparently weren’t all right. What did that mean? What could he do?!

The smaller skeleton took a slow, deep breath, and let it out just as slow as to not disturb his brother. He quieted the fearful thoughts; this wasn’t about him, this was about his brother.

“I miss him so much, Sans,” Papyrus finally spoke, his voice weak and shaken. “I just miss him so much.”

“Who do you miss, Papyrus?” Sans asked, keeping his voice low and soft as he began to rub his brother’s back.

“Gaster,” Papyrus said.

“Who is that?”

Papyrus froze, his body stiffening, and he slowly looked up into Sans’ eyes.

The poor skeleton looked an absolute mess; Sans had to fight the urge to wipe away the tears and magic that was running from his eye sockets and nasal aperture. Papyrus was giving him an oddly incredulous look before his face morphed back into one of sorrow.

“G-Gaster was the R-Royal Scientist,” Papyrus stammered, as if fighting against himself to get the information out. “He- he’s our Dad, Sans.”

Sans’ mind ground to a halt, and now it was his turn to give his brother an oddly incredulous look.

“What? You said we didn’t have parents, Papyrus!” Sans exclaimed. “What do you mean this Gaster monster was our Dad?!”

“P-please, Sans, don’t hate me, please,” Papyrus said, gripping his arms, his whole body quivering. “I had my reasons for keeping this from you.”

Sans couldn’t help the anger that began to well up from his soul. “So if I didn’t follow you today you never would have told me?”

“I, well, maybe?”

Sans started to pull away before Papyrus pulled him in for a tight hug, tighter than Sans could have anticipated from his lazy brother.

“Let me go, Papyrus!” Sans cried out.

“Sans, please, please, baby bro, just listen to me, please,” Papyrus begged. “Please don’t be angry with me. It was a bad decision, I realize that, and for what it’s worth I’m sorry, I really am sorry.”

Sans stopped struggling. “Well, I can’t call myself Magnificent if I don’t at least hear you out,” he muttered. “But I am still angry.”

“You have the right to be, I’m sorry,” Papyrus said, relaxing his grip, but only a little.

“Start explaining, Papyrus,” Sans continued stiffly.

“Right, right, let’s just get ourselves home first.”

“Wait, Papyrus, don’t-!”

The dizzying feeling of teleporting cut Sans off and before he knew it, they were back in their living room, and both skeletons were sprawled across the floor, Papyrus laying over Sans.

Sans always needed a moment or two to reorient himself after teleporting, and Papyrus was so exhausted after his emotional outburst that in his usual attempt to keep Sans on his feet, not only did he fail to do so, but he lost his balance as well and landed on top of his smaller brother.

“Well, we’re home, at least,” Papyrus said with a groan.

“Yeah,” Sans murmured. “Can you get up?”

“I don’t think so. Can you?”

“You’re sort of pinning me here, brother.”

“Right, sorry.”

Sans sighed, closing his eyes and reaching to pat Papyrus on the skull. “I suppose while we’re here, you can tell me about our Father.”

“Right,” Papyrus sighed. “I’m going to make the insanely long story short, Sansy. Like I said, Gaster was the Royal Scientist, and he was the creator of The Core. You could say he was our creator, too.”

“But, how?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t think to ask until after it was too late.”

They lay in silence for a few moments. Sans could feel papyrus trying to control himself, but he could tell that he was crying again. Finally, he pushed himself up and started getting them both up.

“Come on, Papyrus,” Sans said, leading him to the couch. “Sit here for a little bit, I’ll be right back.”

Sans went quickly to the kitchen once Papyrus dropped onto the couch. He put a kettle of water on the stove, reached for a bottle of honey that he knew Papyrus kept hidden in a cabinet, and went back to the living room. Papyrus still looked very upset and only looked up when Sans pressed the bear-shaped bottle into his hands.

“Thanks, bro,” Papyrus murmured, then he took a long swig of honey.

Sans sat next to him, putting an arm across his back, and waited for a moment before promoting him.

“Go on, Papyrus.”

“Yeah. Well, you were still so little, hell, I was still so little. Dad created The Core, and that was when things started going really wrong. He became obsessed with his project, was almost never home, he was so excited to finally give power to the entire Underground that he wasted to take it further,” Papyrus paused to take another sip of honey. “He left us to fend for ourselves. The few times I saw him I tried to get him to stay and take care of us. You were so upset every time he left.”

“What was he trying to do?”

“He thought he could get The Core to generate enough power to shatter the barrier.”

Sans’ face screwed up as he tried to fathom exactly how much power that would take.

“That was a very dangerous endeavor, I take it?”

“It’s what killed him, Sans.”

The tears were now flowing freely down Papyrus’ face and he began to dissolve into sobs again.

“The last time I saw him I told him what a horrible father he was, what he was doing to us, I threatened to run away, and since he didn’t listen to me, I did. We did.”

The kettle whistling in the other room drew Sans’ attention. He quickly leapt off the couch to pour two mugs of tea before returning to the living room, handing one mug to Papyrus, who took it with shaking hands.

“I didn’t know he died until we reached the border of the capital,” Papyrus sobbed. “The power in the entire Underground went out for about ten minutes, and when it came back on, I didn’t think anything of it and just kept moving.”

Sans rubbed Papyrus’ back, not saying anything and letting him continue.

“When we stopped at an inn, that’s when I heard the other monsters talking about The Core, an explosion, and everyone missing, and… I knew. I just knew.”

Papyrus nearly let the mug in his hand fall; Sans quickly grabbed it and set it aside, along with his own, so he could pull Papyrus into a hug, letting him cry, rubbing his back, and hushing him gently.

“I’m sorry, Sans, maybe there was something else I could have done, something else I could have said,” Papyrus sobbed, gripping the front of Sans’ shirt.

“Papy, calm down,” Sans said, tightening his grip. “You didn’t know. There likely wasn’t anything you could do. I don’t know Father at all, and from what it sounds, perhaps that is a good thing. Listen, we have time to go over it all, but for right now, I am really worried about you.”

Sans prompted Papyrus to sit up, and when he did, Sans cupped his face in his hands, making him look Sans in the eyes as he spoke.

“You are a wonderful brother,” Sans said. “Seeing you so upset worries me and scares me, to be honest. You did nothing wrong, Papyrus. You said so yourself, Father neglected us, leaving you, only a child yourself, to care for a baby. I cannot tell you how appreciative I am for all that you’ve done, though I do need to ask one more thing of you.”

Papyrus sniffed and nodded slightly.

“Please, Papyrus, please forgive yourself.”

Sans hugged Papyrus tightly, ignoring how his brother froze.

After some time, those familiar long arms encircled him, and the familiar chuckle accompanied them.

“You really are too cool, Sans.”

“I love you, brother.”

“Love you, too. Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Like what you read? Please check out my social media for more fun!  
> [ My Tumblr](https://soloshikigami.tumblr.com/)  
> [ My Twitter](https://twitter.com/SoloShikigami)


End file.
